Loading...
The Huron Expositor, 1985-08-07, Page 2Huron EH ' SINCE 1860, SERVING THE COMMUNITY FIRST +CNA BLUE RIBBON AWARD 1985 Incorporating Brussels Post 10 Maln Street 527-0240 Published in SEAFORTH, ONTARIO Every Wednesday morning HEATHER McILWRAITH, Editor The Expositor Is brought to you each week by the efforts of: Pat Armes, Bessie Broome, Marlene Charters, Joan Guichelaar, Gary Heist, Anne Hutt, Joanne Jewitt, Stephanie Levesque, Dianne McGrath, Lois McLlwain, Bob McMillan, Cathy Melody, Larry Till and Steve Walters. Member Canadian Community Newspaper Assoc, Ontario Community Newspaper Association OntarioommPrPeas CouncilPres Commonwealth Press Union international Press Institute Subscription rates: Canada $18.75 a year (In advance) Outside Canada $55.00 a year (in advance) Single Copies - 50 cents each SEAFORTH, ONTARIO, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 7, 1985 Second class mail registration Number 0696 Advertising Is accepted on the condition that In the event of a typographical error the advertising space . occupied by the erroneous Item, together with reasonable allowance for signature, will not be charged for but the balance of the advertisement will be paid for at the applicable rate. While every effort will be made to Insure they ere handled with care, the publishers cannot be responsible tor the return of unsolicited manuscripts or photos. Canadians losing their rights Canadians have one of the world's best relationships - or one of its worst, depending on how you look,at it - with their police forces. As a group, are more generous and forgiving of our folks in blue than just about any other nation on earth. That holds true for almost all of Europe and South America (at least in those few countries where the military hasn't yet replaced conventional police), and in particular the United States. American cops have a reputation, deserved or not, as rednecked louts interested only in harassing citizens, innocent' or not, at every opportunity. Our cozy relationship with our cops creates certain risks, however. For one thing, it. causes us to hold back from questioning their actions when maybe we should, or from criticizing them when, as with most humans, they go wrong. Three recent events have reinforced that relationship. OPP Commissioner Archie Ferguson announced last week his officers would start cracking down on motorists who speed or drink and drive, on the same day Toronto police announced, in what will likely be a trend -setting move, they had decided to begin fingerprinting and photographing those convicted of drunk driving to speed up identification of repeat offenders. The following day the Supreme Court of Canada refused to outlaw the use of random breathalyzer tests. Of themselves, all three decisions made sense, in that they appear designed for the protection of society. No logical person could really argue with their intent. As any .student of sociology can attest, however, Canadians have a strange habit of rolling over and playing dead whenever their leaders tell them something done to them is for The sake of security. Such was the case in 1970, for instance, when former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau invoked the War Measures Act to control the situation in Quebec during the October Crisis, in what was surely one of the greatest examples of over -reaction in the history of civilization. The way that War Measures Act allowed the Prime Minister to goosestep all over Canadians' rights - with complete impunity and no appeal, by the way - should have been considered intolerable. That it was not indicated both a flaw in the old British North America Act, and a fundamental mistake in our collective thinking. Our new constitution, over which Ottawa fought long and hard to wrest control from Britain, is supposed to prevent anybody from having to give evidence against themselves. In theory, that's a lofty principle, worthy of whatever it takes to sustain it. But it's practice that counts. And since the constitution was brought home, most government and judicial decisions relating to it have gone against it That's what makes both the fingerprinting and the breathalyzer so troubling. Technically, anybody who engages in either is guilty of that offence, although almost never by their own doing. As for the OPP's new stance on speeders. it is more of a toughening up than new legislation. As most of this province's drivers will tell you, Ontario's police have always been fairly vigilant in giving out tickets - and commensurate demerit points - when necessary. Rare is the cop who gives warnings instead. The gross invasion of privacy and individual rights these moves represent would, in most other places in the world, have people out in the streets screaming about a police state. In Canada, those who notice them at all probably won't say boo. Canadians should not be so giving of their constitutional protection. As history bears out, a right removed temporarily is a right lost forever. — L.T. Save lives, stop the chases OPINION- BABBLING PINION- The insanity has got to stop. Yet another high-speed police chase has claimed lives. This time three people died - including a 17 -year-old mother of two on her wedding day, her 16 -year-old maid of honor, and a 24 -year-old OPP Constable. It seems at times as if our police officers have been watching too many American police shows. The use of this kind of reckless,force may work in New York or Chicago or Los Angeles, but in Ontario it should be considered acceptable only in the most dire of circumstances, such as an officer in pursuit of a bank robber. Solicitor -General Ken Keyes has hinted he may be willing to outlaw this deadly practice. His ministry is expecting a report soon, and for the good of the province, he should act without delay to implement any suggestion aimed at reducing this carnage on our highways. — H.M. BABBLING BROOK Photo by Heather Mcllwraith Right-wingers cause problems The tragedy of South Africa continues and people, like right-wing American Senator Jesse Helms, rightly worry that the richest country in Africa may go communist. The trouble is, men like Mr. Helms are part of the problem, not the cure. The democratic nations probably have only months, a few years at the most, to prevent South Africa from becoming a Marxist, one-party state. The present system of a minority of whites holding down a majority of blacks cannot continue forever. The explosion of frustration and hatred on the part of the blacks was inevitable and whether or not the current unrest is the spark that will light the fuse of the final cataclysm, the change must come even- tually. And the way things are going the government of the black nation that rises from the ashes will likely be a left-wing, non -democratic one The failure of the foreign policy of all western nations and particularly the United States is once again in full, depressing view. The thing our governments fear most is communism and yet we are the best allies communists have in spreading their influ ence. in the name of fighting communism we continue to support repressive governments leaving the opponent, of those governments BEHINDTHE SCENES by Keith Roulston nowhere to go for help except the Soviet Union or its allies. Contrast the action` of Ronald Reagan towards South Africa and Nicaragua on the matter of economic sanctions. The U.S. vetoes a United Nations resolution calling for a trade boycott with South Africa on supposedly humanitarian grounds because it would hurt the blacks the most; - the very , people who needed help in South Africa. Yet, although he professes to worry about the little people in Nicaragua who must be saved from their Marxist rulers, he thought nothing of throwing a total trade blockade on that country, crippling the economy, and bringing hardship to the poor. Sadly one has to wonder how much the tremendous business investment of Canada, Britain and the U.S. has in formulation of foreign policy. A Toronto stock market analyst the other day, asked about the rising price of gold, said that the situation in South Africa might have a temporary effect but they'd been through this kind of unrest before and as soon as things settled down businessmen would find it attractive to invest there again. And so our leaders continue to mouth the right sentiments, to deplore the injustice of apartheid, but to take little real action to bring about change. The U.S. thought nothing of invading Grenada. Reagan seems to be just waiting for a chance to send in the troops to Nicaragua and in the meantime funds mercenaries. Yet in Nicaragua the people are, from most reports, behind their government. They would resist an invasion. In South Africa, the vast majority of the people would rise up and support an invasion, South Africa is, of course, a modern, well -armed nation and no easy target and armed conflict should always be a last resort. Yet strangely while the U.S. flexes its tContinued on page A9' Finding the hidden treasures it's filled with violence and injustice. The pages seem to have an unending list of murders, bombings and accidents. Of course, it is the daily newspapers I'm referring to. That essential link with the intrigues of the modem world is brim full of conspiracies. accusations and tragedies. I enjoy reading the newspapers I hope that does not make me appear too sadistic. if is important to be informed on what is happening in the world. However that is not my main reason for checking the papers so closely. Hidden in those pages are little treasures I find and eriiuy The stories do not appear in every edition, but they are so amusing that the wait between them and the effort needed to find them are part of the enjoyment. The odd little humorous, human interest story the papers use for filler are the targets of my search. People can be much funnier than fiction. They do the darndest things. if the papers do not have enough killings. bombings, and political blunders to fill the issue they often print one of those interesting tales The weekend papers carried two of these little gems. The first sounds suspicious, but it is too good to forget. Apparently four Soviet soldiers on ma- noeuvres in a tank got lost. After a period of searching they located a Czechoslovakian tavern. Reform COUNTRY CORNER by Larry Dillon Instead of asking for directions, they consumed three bottles of vodka and proceeded to trade their tank to the tavern owner for two more cases of the vodka The soldiers were found two days later, in a forest sleeping off their hangovers. The tavern owner, who had thrown in seven pounds of herring and pickles with the liquor as a gond will gesture. was caught trying to sell pieces of dismantled tank as scrap metal. The second story relates to the errors made by a hitchhiker who robbed the gentleman who gave him a ride. He took the driver's wallet and made his escape. When he was safe and able to check his loot, he found the wallet was empty. He also discovered that in his haste to get away he had left a hag of his own which contained $70. Our daring robber quickly formulated a plan to recover his money, He had the driver's identification from the wallet He phoned him and offered to exchange the wallet for the $70. After all it was his money. The driver agreed T think the robber In thirty plus years as an editor. a parent. and a teacher, i have been inundated (though not quite drowned ) by several waves of self-styled "reform' of our educational system, especially that of Ontario Each wave has washed away some of the basic values in our system and left behind a heap of detritus, from which teachers and students eventually emerge. gasping for a breath of dean air. Most of the "massive" reforms in our system are borrowed from the U.S.. after thirty or forty years of testing there have proven them dubious. if not worthless We have borrowed from the pragmatist. John Dewey, and American. who had some good ideas, but tried to put them into Mass production, an endearing but not necessarily noble trait of our cousins below the border We have tried the ridiculous, "See, Jane See Spot run. Spot, see Jane vomit," sort of thing which completely ignores the child's demand for heroes and witches and shining maidens, and things that go bump in the night. We have tried "teaching the whole child". a process in which the teacher becomes father -mother, uncle -aunt, grand• father -grandma, psychiatrist, buddy. confi- dant, and football to kick around, while the kid does what he -she darn -well pleases. And we wonder about teacher "burn -out". We have tried a system in which the children choose from a sort of Pandora's box what subjects they would like to take, and giving them a credit for each subject to which they are "exposed", whether or not they have learned anything in it. That was a bit of a disaster. Kids, like adults, chose the things that were 'fun", that were "easy", that didn't have exams, that allowed them to "express their individuality." realized his mistake when the driver introduced him to the police officer he had brought along to help with the exchange. I find these stories more entertaining than the comic section. My all time favorite is a news item, which appeared some months ago, about a depressed gentleman who decided to end it all This man was unable to shoot himself because at the last moment he would move the gun away and miss. His attempted overdose on medication left him with only a headache. This gentleman was determined He decided a convenient and painless method would be to gas himself. He used the oven of his gas stove to fill the room with gas in this last attempt After a long period of impatient waiting, the poor fellow changed his mind and decided that he would live after all He shut off the gas While he was considering his new found future he started to light a cigarette. . Rescue workers found the man alive but scratched and bruised, in the middle of his (Continued on page A9' reaches stalemate SUGAR AND SPICE by Bill Smiley New courses were introduced with the rapidity of rabbits breeding A kid who was confident that he would he a great brain surgeon took eve! tlhing from basket - weaving to bird watching be, aUSP they were fun And suddenly at about the age of seventeen, he -she discovered that it was necessary to know some science. mathe- matics, Latin, history and English to become a brain surgeon (or a novelist, or a playwright, or an engineer, etc) There are very few jobs open in basket -weaving and bird -watching or World Religions or another couple of dozen I could name, hut won't, for fear of being beaten to death by a tizzy of teachers the day this column appears The universities, those sacrosanct institu- tions. where the truth shall make you free. went along with the Great Deception They lowered their standards, in a desperate scramble for live bodies They,competed for students with all the grace of merchants in an Armenian bazaar Another swing of the pendulum. Parents discovered that their kids know something about a lot of things. but not much about anything. They got mad The universities. a little red in the face suddenly and virtuously announced that many high school graduates were illiterate, which was a lot of crap. They were the people who decided that a second language was not necessary. They were the people who accepted students with a mark of 50 in English. which means the kid actually failed but his teacher gave him a credit Nobody, in the new system, really failed If they mastered just less than half the work. got a 48 per cent, they were raised to 50 if they flunked every subject they took, they were transferred to another "level' , where they could succeed, and even excel The latest of these politically -inspired slovenly -researched reforms in Ontario is called SERF, and it sounds just like, and is just like NERD Reading its contents carefully, one comes to the conclusion that if Serp is accepted, the result will be a great leveller Out of one side of its mouth it suggests that education he compressed, by abandoning of Grade i.t. and out of the other side, that education be expanded by adding a lot of new things to the curriculum. How can you compress something and expand it at the same time^ Only a commission on education could even suggest such a thing. There will be lots of money for 'Special Education" in the new plan. There will be less money for excellence. Special Education is educational jargon for teaching stupid kids. Bright kids are looked down upon as an "elite" group, and they should be put in their place. The universities would enjoy seeing Grade 13 disappear. That would mean they'd have a warm body for four years, at a cost of about (Continued on page A8)